The Lost Penguin

This is a sweet little story featuring, for the second time, the endearing characters of Oliver and Patch. Oliver is a little boy who has friend called Ruby, and she has a dog called Patch. In this story they visit a zoo. The zoo contains all sorts of different animals but the one enclosure that really catches their eye is the penguin area where they spy a little penguin who isn’t mixing with any of the other penguins. The zoo keeper explains that the small penguin is called Peep and is from a rescue centre so hasn’t really settled in yet. Oliver, Ruby and Patch then leave the zoo to come back the next day but on their return they discover that the little penguin is missing.

They then go on a mission to find the penguin. They are successful but their success creates problems for the little trio, who then become a
four and fall out over who should take whom home, putting their friendship to the test. There is a solution in the end and everybody is happy.

This story would be a really good discussion starter if anybody was feeling left out and it’s a really good way of showing the effects of  loneliness, in a gentle way, using animals and people too. The illustrations are very appealing indeed. Obviously the zoo gives scope for some very entertaining animals – meerkats included and I loved the way the penguins have a good old wash under their flippers! A very enjoyable adventure for Oliver and Patch and I hope they will have many more to come.